Juvenile Products Corp. of Miami, Fla. which holds license rights in the present invention, marketed a waterless vaporizer in the United States under the trademark "MOUNTAIN BREEZE" for several years. Production of the "MOUNTAIN BREEZE" vaporizer, which was made in England, was discontinued in 1996.
The "MOUNTAIN BREEZE" vaporizer had a case containing two small electrical resistors of the type used in electronic circuits that thermally induced an air flow through openings in the case and through a refill pad supported on a pad-supporting grille on the top of the case. The pad was impregnated with menthol dissolved in eucalyptus oil, and the thermally induced air flow vaporized the menthol and conducted it into the environment. The pad-receiving grille surface was large enough to permit the pad to be placed in a selected position between a "low" and a "high" position on the surface. A pivotable and vertically displaceable chimney fit over the pad and upon pivoting by the user moved the pad with it. Outlet holes in the chimney released the vapors to the environment.
Various aspects of the design and construction of the "MOUNTAIN BREEZE" vaporizer were detrimental to its durability and ease of use and may have played a role in its disappearance from the market place. For example, there was no power switch--the unit was simply plugged into an outlet. The resistors were mounted on a circuit board and connected to the power cord by soldered connections, which were prone to sparking and failure.